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NHL playoffs winners and losers: Stars falter in Game 1 again

The Dallas Stars, despite reaching the conference finals the past three seasons, have a poor record in Game 1s.

The effort in their Saturday, April 18 playoff opener was poorer than usual.

The Stars were routed 6-1 at home by the Minnesota Wild and find themselves trailing after the first game of the series for the ninth time in their last 11 openers.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said "to a man," the Wild were better than his team, which didn't happen a lot during the regular season.

"You can't get your game going if you're not going to win battles," he told reporters. "You can take any metric and if you lose skating battles and puck battles, you're always on the receiving end of everything negative."

The Stars, under previous coach Peter DeBoer, overcame a 5-1 loss in their 2025 playoff opener to beat the Colorado Avalanche in seven games, so they are far from in trouble.

"There's room for growth," Gulutzan said.

Here are the winners and losers from the opening night of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs:

WINNERS

Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota Wild

Coach John Hynes chose the rookie over veteran Filip Gustavsson for Game 1. Wallstedt made 27 saves for a victory in his first playoff game. In fact, coaches made the right decisions in net in other games. Carolina veteran Frederik Andersen got the start over Brandon Bussi and had a 22-save shutout. Stuart Skinner kept the Penguins in the game during their loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Porter Martone, Philadelphia Flyers

What a move on his goal, which ended up being the game-winner at Pittsburgh. He skated hard into the zone, stopped, circled back and ripped a shot past Skinner for a 3-1 lead. Martone is 19 and just signed after his Michigan State season ended.

Wild power play

The Wild had the third-best power play in the regular season behind Dallas and the Edmonton Oilers. It connected twice in Saturday's game, with both goals by Joel Eriksson Ek.

LOSERS

Jake Oettinger, Dallas Stars

He waspulled in his last playoff gamein 2025 by DeBoer and gave up five goals on Saturday. Gulutzan never considered pulling Oettinger, saying he didn't think goaltending was an issue in the loss.

"I'm going to be a lot better next game," Oettinger said.

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Flyers did what they could to get Crosby off his game. He took two penalties in the game, the first one for pulling off Jamie Drysdale's helmet. He was sent off the ice for a retaliatory slash on Travis Sanheim, who had cross-checked him. That meant Crosby was unavailable as the Penguins were pressing to rally from a 3-1 deficit late in the third period.

"We have to stay out of it a little more and trust that when they try to stir it up that they're going to be penalized for it," Crosby told reporters.

Artem Zub, Ottawa Senators

The Senators defenseman delivered a big hit on Carolina's Seth Jarvis but took the worst of it. He exited the game, leaving Ottawa short-handed on defense in a 2-0 loss. There was no update on his condition after the game.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:NHL playoff openers winners and losers: Stars crushed in Game 1

byAlpha World

in

April 19, 2026

NHL playoffs winners and losers: Stars falter in Game 1 again

The Dallas Stars, despite reaching the conference finals the past three seasons, have a poor record in Game 1s. The effort in the...

UK’s Cooper urges full resumption of shipping through Strait of Hormuz

By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANTALYA, April 18 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Saturday the Strait of Hormuz had yet to ‌return to normal operations despite a ceasefire in the Iran ‌war, urging Tehran to allow global shipping to fully resume.

"We are at a critical diplomatic moment with a ceasefire now in place ... but we don't yet have normal passage through the strait," Cooper told Reuters on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum in Antalya.

A convoy of tankers was crossing the strait ‌on Saturday, the first major ⁠movement of ships in the crucial waterway since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran on ⁠February 28.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Saturday that Tehran had agreed to "the managed passage of a limited number of oil tankers and commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz". It added that the strait will remain ‌under strict Iranian control if the U.S. does not ensure full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from and to Iran.

Cooper said the U.S.-Iran truce needed to develop into a lasting peace, adding that restoring shipping through the waterway was urgent for the global economy.

"We need the Strait ‌of Hormuz open ... because this helps all of our economies right across the world that are currently being held hostage," she said.

Cooper said more than 50 countries had ‌backed efforts to support freedom of navigation, with over a dozen prepared to provide maritime support, including demining and reassurance for shipping, once the conflict ends.

She said there was still “considerable work to do” to ‌turn the ceasefire into an enduring settlement and urged all sides to uphold the truce.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

byAlpha World

in

April 18, 2026

UK’s Cooper urges full resumption of shipping through Strait of Hormuz

By Tuvan Gumrukcu ANTALYA, April 18 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Saturday the Strait of Hormuz had...

Sarfaraz to coach Pakistan test team as selectors name 4 uncapped players for Bangladesh series

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was named as head coach of the Pakistan test team as selectors named four uncapped players on Saturday for next month’s two-test series in Bangladesh.

Sarfaraz, who won the Champions Trophy in 2017,retiredfrom internationalcricketlast month. The Pakistan Cricket Board also appointed former test batter Asad Shafiq as the new batting coach while Umar Gul will be bowling coach.

Left-handed batter Shan Masood will continue to lead the test team with Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq the other experienced batters in the side.

Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais and Mohammad Ghazi Ghori are the four uncapped players in the test team.

Fazal and Awais are both left-handed batters and have been rewarded after impressing the selectors in domestic cricket. Butt, who made his first-class debut in 2015, is a seasoned all-rounder and carries over a decade of playing in domestic cricket.

The first test will be played in Dhaka from May 8-12 with Sylhet hosting the second test from May 16-20. The series is part of World Test Championship where Pakistan stands at No. 5 afterdrawingthe home test series against South Africa 1-1 last October.

Bangladesh lost its opening WTC series in Sri Lanka 1-0 and is eighth in nine-team event.

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

AP cricket:https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

byAlpha World

in

April 18, 2026

Sarfaraz to coach Pakistan test team as selectors name 4 uncapped players for Bangladesh series

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was named as head coach of the Pakistan test team as selectors named four uncap...

Is your area at risk for severe weather? 100 million in path of storms

Severe weather is expected tostretch across a large portion of the countryWednesday, April 15, with storms developing from the southern Plains into the Midwest and southern Great Lakes — impacting more than 100 million people.

Forecasters say multiple rounds of thunderstorms could bring large hail, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes as the system moves east through the day and into the evening. The setup is complicated, with leftover storms from earlier in the day influencing where new storms form.

"Severe thunderstorms posing a risk for large hail to very large hail, severe gusts, and a couple of tornadoes will be possible across portions of the southern Plains toward the Great Lakes this afternoon and evening," theStorm Prediction Centerwrote.

More:Tornado watch issued? Here's what to do when sirens go off

Where is the greatest threat?

The strongest storms are expected from parts of Oklahoma and north Texas through Missouri, Iowa and into Illinois and Wisconsin, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

In the Southern Plains, storms are likely to develop along a dryline by midafternoon, especially across Oklahoma and North Texas. Some of these storms could quickly become severe, producing very large hail and damaging winds. A tornado or two cannot be ruled out, particularly early in the storms’ development.

Farther north, across Iowa and northern Missouri into Illinois, the atmosphere is expected to become unstable again after morning storms. This could lead to scattered thunderstorms capable of producing very large hail, with some tornado risk as well.

Storms may also redevelop farther east into parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania later in the day. While uncertainty remains higher there, isolated severe storms — including the potential for damaging winds and a brief tornado — are possible.

Storm Prediction Center map shows severe weather threat Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

Storms continue through the week

The active pattern will not end Wednesday.

On Thursday, April 16, the severe weather threat shifts east, with isolated strong to severe storms possible from the Mid-South through the Ohio Valley and into parts of the Northeast, including New York and southern New England, according to theStorm Prediction Center. The main concerns will be damaging wind gusts and hail, though the threat appears more limited than Wednesday.

By Friday, April 17, a more significant setup is expected to develop again.

A stronger system is forecast to bring widespread severe thunderstorms from the southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley and parts of the Midwest. This includes areas such as Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa, where all hazards — large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes — will be possible.

Forecasters say some storms could become intense, especially if discrete supercells develop before storms merge into a larger line. That could increase the risk for very large hail and stronger tornadoes before a transition to a more widespread wind threat later in the day.

Storm Prediction Center maps show severe weather threat across the U.S. Thursday, April 16, through Friday, April 17, 2026.

Rolling storm damage report

As storms move across the country, this interactive map lets you track impacts in real time. See where tornadoes touched down, hail sizes reported, trees knocked over and roads closed due to flooding.

Hover over each icon to view detailed reports from National Weather Service stations right in the strike zone.

U.S. weather radar

U.S. weather watches and warnings

Stay informed. Get weather alerts via text

Brandi D. Addison covers weather across the United States as the Weather Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. She can be reached atbaddison@gannett.com.Find her on Facebook here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:US severe weather threatens 100 million. Maps show greatest risk areas

byAlpha World

in

April 18, 2026

Is your area at risk for severe weather? 100 million in path of storms

Severe weather is expected tostretch across a large portion of the countryWednesday, April 15, with storms developing from the southern...

Tiger Woods fighting subpoena for medication records in DUI case

The legal battle overTiger Woods’ prescription medication recordsis officially underway in Florida.

After the famed golferwas arrested in FloridaMarch 27 on suspicion of driving while impaired, Florida state prosecutors filed a notice in court April 7 that said they planned tosubpoena Woods’ medication recordssince Jan. 1.

Now Woods’ attorney has fired back with a response that states Woods has a constitutional right to privacy with these records unless the state can convince the court why such records are relevant to the state’s criminal investigation of Woods.

“The defense objects to the issuance of a subpoena and requests the court to conduct a hearing to determine if the prescription records are ‘relevant to the criminal investigation,’” said Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan.

If the court grants the state’s request for a subpoena for these records, Woods’ attorney also wants a protective order governing the use and release of these records to shield them from public view.

Why is the state trying to get these records from Tiger Woods?

Woods, 50, wasarrested in Jupiter Island March 27after authorities say his Land Rover clipped the back of a trailer from behind in a residential neighborhood and then tipped over. Authorities suspected he was impaired by medications, not alcohol, after evaluating him on the scene.

After Woods refused to take a urine test, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said, “We will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash."

State prosecutors didn’t say why they wanted to subpoena Woods’ prescription records, but such records could help bolster their case regarding Woods’ alleged impairment. Meanwhile, Woods haspleaded not guiltyand said he is “stepping away” to “seek treatment and focus on my health.”

Tiger Woods was arrested for driving under the influence after a car crash in Florida on Friday, March 27, the Martin County Sheriff's Office said. Woods and the other driver involved in the two-car crash were not injured. Photos release by Martin County Sheriff's Office show the scene of the crash.